There are no safety checks on products entering the EU. Everything
relies on manufacturers' declarations of conformity, which are pretty
meaningless when genuine, and often completely fictitious.

well I thought that too (otherwise just how does all the Chinese crap
get through?)

But one of the official requests from HMG (to the EU) is that products
which are already CE approved on leaving date should not have to be
re-approved - as that, apparently "takes months and costs thousands"
(per product), and I thought "does it really!?"

but what do I know

tim

IIUI, anything that gets approved by a test house in one EU country is
automatically approved for all the other EU countries.

For example, I might be wrong, but I believe that it was a German test
house that approved the use of the original domestic data-over-mains
equipment (the type that had no notches, and wiped out the amateur radio
bands) as, in their opinion, it met the relevant EN standards. As the
approval then applied to the whole EU, OFCOM decided they could/would do
little about it, despite it being obviously unfit for purpose.

As Brexit approaches, the question is how the UK is going to deal with
everything which has, for several decades, been obliged to bear the EC
symbol as an assurance of its quality and safety. Will we simply conform
with the present and ongoing requirements, or will we be reinstating our
own BSI approvals? If it's the latter, it could simply be an expensive
exercise in making a lot of work for the working man to do?
--
Ian